Key Climate Meeting Under Way

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change, #COP21, got under way Nov. 30 in Paris with a host of world leaders participating and a huge security force deployed. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a global solar energy alliance that will be headquartered in India.

Dec 01, 2015

Concerns for security and the environment were high as the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, #COP21, got under way Nov. 30 in Paris, where President Obama and a host of other world leaders participated and a huge security force of more than 9,000 officers was deployed around the French capital city. Leaders from the United States, China, Russia, India, Britain, France, and many other nations are participating in the meeting, and the White House announced commitments from 73 additional companies that joined the American Business Act on Climate Pledge – raising the total to 154, with more than 11 million employees overall, that have signed it.

The signing companies pledge to reduce their emissions, increase low-carbon investments, deploy more clean energy, pursue zero net deforestation in their supply chains, and take other actions to build more sustainable businesses and tackle climate change, according to the announcement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the assembled audience that his country will produce more than 40 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuels as of 2030, and he called on developed nations to ratify the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period. During a news conference, Modi announced a global solar energy alliance that will be headquartered in India.

President Obama and China's President Xi Jinping met in Paris on the opening day of the conference. The White House posted a statement saying the two men "recalled and reaffirmed their November 2014 Joint Announcement on Climate Change, as well as their September 2015 Joint Presidential Statement on Climate Change, which contains a common vision for the Paris Climate Conference. The two sides emphasized their resolve to work together and with others to achieve an ambitious and successful Paris outcome."